Nine to go! (suicide party cars)

[Taro Toporific]

[INDENT]Japanese tourist commits suicide on firing range in Philippines ---Manila Times, Nov 13:...53-year-old Japanese tourist who allegedly shot and killed himself Saturday at a firing range in the locality... Tsuneo Tanaka.. Tanaka was with his girlfriend, Michelle Villafuerte, and a certain Benette Poblete and were target firing with a .45-caliber pistol when for no apparent reason, the Japanese man went in front of the range with the firearm and aimed the gun nozzle at his head.


Japanese principal, student commit suicide ---AlertNet, Nov 13:...A Japanese elementary school principal was found hanged in a forest on Sunday in an apparent suicide, and a junior high school girl jumped to her death the same day...[/INDENT]

Just think for the moment about the people these suicides left behind. The 53-year-old Japanese tourist did himself in front of his "girlfriend" but most likely left behind a wife and kids wondering. And the Japanese principal and student commit suicide because....

[Captain Japan]

Gifu gov't official hangs himself in his office
Mainichi

GIFU -- The head of the Gifu Prefectural Government's general affairs division has hanged himself in his office, police said.

A prefectural government worker found Sadamu Kawano, 58, hanging from a rope in the general affairs division head office and called paramedics at about 9:40 p.m. on Sunday.

Rescuers rushed to the office to find Kawano already dead.

Kawano came to the office at about 10 a.m. on Sunday. Workers who passed in front of his office at about 5 p.m. found that the lights were turned off.

Kawano was a former member of an in-house team formed to investigate a slush fund scandal at the prefectural government.

[Captain Japan]

I wonder if this guy will be able to convince anyone that she asked him to do it...
Man arrested for strangling woman he met through suicide website
Mainichi

IDA, Nagano -- An unemployed man was arrested Wednesday for strangling a woman he had got acquainted with through a suicide website, police said.

Junichiro Mine, 27, of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, is accused of murdering Keiko Shimizu, 27, a resident of the Nagano Prefecture city of Matsumoto.

He has admitted to the allegations. Investigators are poised to conduct an autopsy on her body to determine the exact cause of her death....more...

[Taro Toporific]

14-year-old Niigata boy hangs himself hours after classmates pulled down his pants
japan today, lWednesday, November 15, 2006 at 16:16 EST
NIIGATA --A 14-year-old boy was found to have hanged himself Tuesday night in an apparent suicide in a hut near his home in the village of Kamihayashi, Niigata Prefecture, police said Wednesday. His family started looking for him after he returned home from school at around 6 p.m. Tuesday and then went missing, police said. No suicide note was found.
The principal of the junior high school he attended told a news conference Wednesday that classmates pulled down his pants at school on Tuesday and he told a friend he wanted to die on his way home after school. ....

[Greji]

:noose:
14-year-old Niigata boy hangs himself hours after classmates pulled down his pants
japan today, lWednesday, November 15, 2006 at 16:16 EST
NIIGATA --A 14-year-old boy was found to have hanged himself Tuesday night in an apparent suicide in a hut near his home in the village of Kamihayashi, Niigata Prefecture, police said Wednesday. His family started looking for him after he returned home from school at around 6 p.m. Tuesday and then went missing, police said. No suicide note was found.
The principal of the junior high school he attended told a news conference Wednesday that classmates pulled down his pants at school on Tuesday and he told a friend he wanted to die on his way home after school. ....

Didn't we have a "short penis" discussion somewhere? If he'd have unlimbered a two fisted blue veiner when they jerked his knickers off, he'd have been too busy responding to dating requests to commit suicide!

[Captain Japan]

Father, 2 daughters found dead in car in apparent suicide
Mainichi

OTSU -- A father and his two daughters were found dead in a car at a parking lot after they apparently committed suicide, police said.

The bodies of Choji Seki, 43, from Hino, Shiga Prefecture, and his daughters, aged 14 and 10, respectively, were found on the back seat of a car found in Kora at about 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

Officers found no external wounds on their bodies and a portable briquette stove was left in the vehicle, prompting them to believe that they gassed themselves to death.

Officials at a school for handicapped children, where the two daughters attended, filed a missing person's request for them with police on Monday morning.

[Mulboyne]

Lights from the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku form an "Ina Bauer" figure skating move. Maybe it isn't so wise for a hotel with a record of people plunging from their roof to show an image which might be mistaken a falling body.

[GuyJean]

..Maybe it isn't so wise for a hotel with a record of people plunging from their roof to show an image which might be mistaken a falling body.[/I]

Yeah, why such subtleties? They should go for this one:



GJ

[Captain Japan]

Yeah, why such subtleties? They should go for this one:



GJ

In other news...
Man dies after jumping in front of oncoming train in central Tokyo
Mainichi

A man died after jumping in front of an oncoming train at a subway station in central Tokyo early Tuesday, inconveniencing approximately 10,000 commuters, police and the subway operator said.

Local police suspect the man, who appeared to be aged 25 to 30, committed suicide and are trying to identify him.

At around 5:30 a.m., the man leaped onto the tracks of the Tozai Subway Line at Otemachi Station in Chiyoda-ku and was hit by an oncoming train bound for Nakano from Nishi-Funabashi, investigators said. He died from massive injuries he sustained to his whole body.

Services on the Kudanshita-Nihonbashi section of the line were suspended for about an hour following the accident, inconveniencing some 10,000 commuters.

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo: Japanese Embassy staff member in Manila commits suicide

A male Japanese member of the Japanese Embassy staff in Manila committed suicide Tuesday by jumping from the 25th floor of a residential building in Makati, the Philippines' financial district, police said. Gilbert Cruz, the Makati police chief, identified the victim as Kazuyuki Ito. Cruz said Ito lived alone in a rented condominium unit in the building. "The victim, in his 30s, jumped from the 25th floor and landed in the pool area," Cruz told reporters. He said Ito called his Filipino driver on the phone at 9:18 a.m. to inquire if the driver was in the building already. The driver was then surprised to learn from building staff that Ito had jumped to his death...more...

[Mulboyne]

[kurohinge1]

. . . The chap on the left is &#12496]Baikin[/I] means germ or bacteria. Since he is washing his hands in this picture, this is clearly an attempted suicide . . .

I like that logic.

Bye Bye Baikin!

[Taro Toporific]

[quote="kurohinge1"]:


]

Oh noooooo. Don't drop the soap around Ampanman.

[Captain Japan]

Sergeant found hanged in police station
Mainichi

ASAKA, Saitama -- A police sergeant was found dead at a police station here, apparently after he committed suicide by hanging himself in a bathroom cubicle, law enforcers said.

Police said an assistant inspector at Asaka Police Station in Saitama Prefecture found the 53-year-old sergeant hanging from a rope attached to a pipe above the cubicle at about 7:50 a.m. on Tuesday.

On the floor was a note addressed to the sergeant's family saying, "I'm going on ahead. I'm sorry." Police are investigating the case and the reasons for the apparent suicide.

"It's regrettable that a station member has died," the police station's head, Haruo Komine, said, commenting on the death....more...

[Captain Japan]

11-year-old hangs self in school toilet
Mainichi

YUZA, Yamagata -- An 11-year-old boy died Wednesday, apparently after he hanged himself in a bathroom at an elementary school here, police said.

Police said a teacher at the town-run Yuza Elementary School found the 11-year-old, a fifth-year student, hanging from a rope in the bathroom of the school at about 11:05 a.m. The boy was taken to a hospital in the neighboring city of Sakata, but he was confirmed dead about two hours later.

Investigators said the boy was already unconscious at the time of his discovery. No suicide note was found....more...

[Mulboyne]

[Captain Japan]

I remember this one friend of mine telling me how the shacho at her English school would open up the test envelopes of the students and correct a lot their answers before shipping them off to whatever authority the test was for. The shacho justified it by saying that otherwise the students would lose "confidence," or something like that...
Ex-principal implicated in exam leak found hanged
Kyodo

A former elementary school principal, who is believed to have been involved in leaking questions for a teacher recruitment exam in the city of Fukuoka, was found hanged in the mountains Sunday morning, police said.

The 65-year-old ex-principal went missing before the scandal was reported early January.

He is said to have received information on the questions from a senior official at the Fukuoka City Board of Education. He played a central role in a seminar on how to pass the recruitment test.

He was found dead in almost the same clothes he wore when he went missing, according to the police.

[Captain Japan]

NTV announcer Kimie Osugi commits suicide
Mainichi

Nippon Television Network Corp. (NTV) announcer Kimie Osugi committed suicide early Friday morning by leaping to her death from a condominium block, according to police.

At about 6:30 a.m. on Friday, a passer-by found Osugi, 43, lying on the premises of the condominium complex where she lived in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, local police said. She was pronounced dead at hospital.

What appears to be a suicide note has been found at an undisclosed location, leading investigators to believe she took her own life.

Osugi had been undergoing treatment for an illness, similarly undisclosed, since giving birth to her child in October last year, the broadcaster said.

[Taro Toporific]

Policeman, woman badly injured after being hit by train in Tokyo
Kyodo - Tuesday February 6, 11:27 PM
A police officer and a woman were hit and badly injured by an oncoming train near Tokiwadai Station on the Tobu Tojo Line in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward at around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after he apparently tried to rescue her from the tracks, police said.
Police Sergeant Kunihiko Miyamoto, 53, remains unconscious and in a critical condition due to skull fractures, and the woman, who appears to be about 40 years old, is also badly injured with hipbone fractures but is conscious, the Tokyo Fire Department said.
The accident took place at a crossing near the station. The woman walked onto tracks beyond a crossing gate, and the officer, who was stationed at a "koban" police box nearby, tried to get her off the tracks before an express train hit them, the police said.
Shortly before the accident, a passerby notified the officer at the koban that a woman was on the tracks. The police man dragged her from the crossing and brought her to the koban, but she ran away to the crossing again, according to the police.
The police quoted the woman as saying, "I don't mind getting killed," when she was dragged from the tracks.

[Captain Japan]

Hirosaki farmer's family poisoned in possible group suicide attempt
Mainichi

HIROSAKI, Aomori -- A family of five fell ill in their home here early Monday after inhaling poisonous carbon monoxide fumes emitted by briquette possibly set up because they were trying to commit suicide together, police said.

Rescue workers rushed to the home in Hirosaki following a call notifying them that the 47-year-old farmer, his wife and their three children had fallen ill with headaches and vomiting.

They were all found collapsed on futon on the second floor of their home with five briquette burners surrounding them. They are all expected to recover.

Similar burners have often been used in mass suicides, though it is not known for sure whether the family were trying to kill themselves.

Police said the farmer's 78-year-old mother, who had been asleep on the first floor of the home until awaken by a noise from upstairs, discovered the five.

[Captain Japan]

[GuyJean]

4 found dead inside car in apparent suicide in western Japan
AP/IHT

I knew you'd spot this one; just saw it on the news earlier..

GJ

[Captain Japan]

I knew you'd spot this one]
I keep thinking the trend is over but then someone else goes ahead with it. Then there's really bizarre stuff like this...
Man fatally poisons self in car after burning briquettes to boil water for cup noodles
Mainichi

NAGANO -- A 64-year-old man has died from carbon monoxide poisoning in his car after he apparently used briquettes in a portable clay cooking stove to boil water for cup noodles, police said.
The eldest son of Takashi Kanai found his father lying in his car parked near a local lake in Iizuna, Nagano Prefecture, at about 1:20 a.m. on Monday, before calling paramedics.
Officers found evidence in the car that suggested that Kanai boiled water on a portable clay cooking stove using briquettes. They also found a cup of instant noodles in the car, with the lid open. They suspect that Kanai died from carbon monoxide poisoning from the briquettes in the car.
Kanai, from Nagano, went fishing at the lake on Sunday.

[Buraku]

15% of women aged 20-24 have self-inflicted injuries
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/400938

[Buraku]

Teen drama delivers on anti-suicide message
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200704130064.html

[dimwit]

15% of women aged 20-24 have self-inflicted injuries

Also known as masterbation related malfunctions.

[Captain Japan]

I think these news orgs need to have a conference...
Suicides in Japan top 30,000 for 9th straight year
Kyodo

More than 30,000 people killed themselves in Japan in 2006 for the ninth consecutive year with suicides among students marking a record high, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The total number of suicides came to 32,155, down 1.2 percent from a year earlier. Those believed to have died because of financial difficulties, however, declined by a sharp 10.1 percent to 6,969. The agency attributed the drop to the impact of the economic recovery....more...

Japan's fertility rate marks 1st rise in 6 years while suicides fall
Mainichi

In Wednesday's report, the Health Ministry also said the number of suicides came to 29,887 last year, the first time the figure came in below the 30,000 mark in four years.

Wakana Niimura, a Health Ministry official, said the statistics do not include cases in which it is difficult to determine whether it is a suicide. The National Police Agency was to release more detailed suicide figures later this year....more...

I realize there is mention of more stats set to be released in the latter article but how can they both release news on the same day with different numbers?

[Kuang_Grade]

Maybe the NPA and Health ministry have different definitions of what 'suicide' is? I imagine the Health minstry is under more pressure to keep the suicide numbers low while the cops are under pressure to keep to keep accident/murder numbers low.

[Captain Japan]

Maybe the NPA and Health ministry have different definitions of what 'suicide' is? I imagine the Health minstry is under more pressure to keep the suicide numbers low while the cops are under pressure to keep to keep accident/murder numbers low.

That first Mainichi story was a wire release by the AP. Here's the Mainichi story:
Suicides top 30,000 for 9th year in a row
Mainichi

The number of people who committed suicide in 2006 slightly declined from the previous year, but topped 30,000 for the ninth year in a row, National Police Agency (NPA) data released on Thursday has shown.

The number of suicides in Japan was 32,155 in 2006, a decline of 397 people, or 1.2 percent, from 2005.

Despite the drop, the number of students and elderly people aged 60 years or older, who committed suicide increased by 2.9 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively....more...

I would guess the Health Ministry was really looking for a reason to make it seem like the total was less than 30k. They maybe did not realize, however, that the NPA's release "later this year" would come so quickly - i.e. this afternoon.

[Taro Toporific]

I've been on hand to watch four Japanese "improve" their life---two by train and a mother/daughter tag team going off a 9-stroy building facing my office.

This youtube video is very close to the atmosphere of the events I was at--Obviously don't watch it if you're squeamish (but it passes YouTube's rules of decorum).